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I have a friend who is Indian who for several years, was harassed…

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I have a friend who...

I have a friend who is Indian who for several years, was harassed by co-workers in a unit of a major Health Care Employer. This harassment included her immediate supervisor and then the director of the department. She was a medical records clerk who was forced to perform duties that were outside her trained expertise and job description with the threat of loosing her job if she refused. She performed these tasks while co-workers who were hired to do these duties watched in laughter, did non work related tasks, or left the job site for personal reasons. My Indian friend was repeatedly explicitly excluded from participation in staff meetings, staff celebrations, holiday parties, etc. This treatment affected my friend mentally and physically. She was concerned that she was performing duties outside of her job description that were of detriment to her, the patients, and legally to the hospital as a whole; however, her supervisor persisted that she perform them. To add injury to insult, she was refused compensation for performing these duties. Her supervisor constantly threatened her with poor performance of her job but was careful not to reflect such in evaluations, thus leaving the documented appearance of no problem. My friend maintained several pages of documentation of the harassment, as well as lists of witnesses. Overtime, her health became affected as she was stricken with migraines, upset stomach, and suffered from anxiety related sleep loss. When the pressure and ill treatment reached capacity she approached the Director of the unit about the treatment and the director failed to assess any accountability from the staff or supervisory. Instead, the Director instructed my friend to take her complaint to a Complaints Officer. The Complaints Office then sided on all accounts with the supervisor sighting that there was no visual evidence of this treatment. My friend then took her case to the EEOC, who documented her claim but did not follow up with any action to address the actions of the unit. My friend was left to hire an attorney, using her own limited funds. The legal process proved to be an extreme amount of added stress as the Hospital claimed in so many words that she and her lawyer would be no match for the hospital’s contracted lawyers and that she would be walked over as a giant to an ant (deep pockets). More depressing was the focus of the defense lawyers hired by the hospital. She was deposed by the defense lawyers alone in a video taped room where the focus was spun from her harassment to select instances conjured up by the lawyers to prove that she was inconsistent and mentally unstable. As a result, the case was dismissed by the judge who indicated that this is manner in which American businesses operate. He made no references to any law that supported his view. My friend is very hurt, damaged, and confused about the integrity of the legal process; specifically her hired lawyer’s lack of direct participation and representation and the judge’s acceptance of a one-sided legal report (from the defense lawyer alone). Lastly, her hired lawyer told her that she had no chance in this case because the hospital had more money to turn the outcome of the case in their favor. In my opinion, this is not justice. My Indian friend and her family are good, God fearing and righteous people who came to American legally for an opportunity of freedom and equality, especially those specifically covered by law. She would like to know what specifically is the correct protocol for addressing this issue; and what agency or institution should she approach for adequate support and representation? Who looks out for the civilian or employee in this case? Note that this is a very abbreviated and general description of this issue but the details are horrible acts of discrimination and harassment. And as a result, she was forced to resign without any justice.

Well she filed suit and the suit was dismiissed. So, if ithas been more than a year, she wi ll probably not be able to get that case reopened. What she needs now is to locate and hire a good "contingeny fee" attorney who handles discrimination cases - there are many such lawyers in MD and can be found online, in yellow pages, and various websites and they will meet with her to hear about her case without charging a fee. She might gets some advice from her elected representatives http://www.sentae.gov/ or http://www.house.gov/ or any number of organizations that deal with the vcivil rights of American Indians - start here: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/indian/broch.php

If she is determined, she will find her way thorugh this - and I would not rule out suing her first lawyer for legal-malpractice if he failed to do what was nevcessary to make her case successful.

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The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).

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DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).